Could you use up all the energy in the universe?
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From Brains On, this is the Moment of Um. Answering those questions that make you go... Moment of Um comes to you from APM Studios. I'm Mr. Brisket. Is this video recording? What's up?

It's me, your hype monster, Mr. Brisket. And you know what I'm up to? Recording another completely unhinged air. Last week, y'all dared me to eat 16 ghost peppers with no milk in. Boy, was that a bad idea. Here's the clip. My brain is lava!

So what is your dude Mr. Brisket up to now? Y'all dared me to make the biggest holiday light display ever. So I came through with not 100, not 1,000, but 100,000 lights. Peep this jingletastic setup. Every centimeter of my house is covered in lights, yo. Let's fire this bad boy up. Three, two, one.

So much light! They said it couldn't be done. They said it would be too bright. They said it would use up all the energy in the universe. Wait, I am using a lot of energy. If I use it all then... then I wouldn't be able to charge my phone! That means no more videos. Bad idea. But is it possible to use all the energy there is?

Listener Sven was wondering too, could you use up all the energy in the universe? Better ask a scientist before it's too late. So to answer the first part,

answer is basically no. My name is Dr. Kylie Kennedy, and I am a physicist at Princeton University, where I do research on the tiniest particles in the universe. You can't really use up all of the universe's energy. It can't be created or destroyed, but energy can be converted and energy can be exchanged.

So one example of how energy can convert between different forms is a light bulb. So you plug your light bulb or your lamp into the wall and you get electrical energy in the wires that then is converted into energy in the form of light that we can then see.

And energy from light, when it hits something, isn't just disappearing. Objects are reflecting or absorbing. When something absorbs light, that energy gets converted into heat, which is why in the middle of the summer, when you're walking on the black pavement, a lot of the light from the sun is getting absorbed into that pavement and turning it black.

Another form of energy conservation is with your own bodies. So you eat food which has energy inside of it that

you know, enables you to run around and do all of your activities and jump high. And when you jump high, you convert that energy when you go up into gravitational energy. And when you run fast, you convert that energy into energy of motion. Um, uh,

Whoa, you catch that brisket nation energy cannot be created or destroyed it just moves around Like how the Sun gives off energy in the form of light then plants Absorb that light and use that energy to grow food like ghost peppers Then I eat that ghost pepper and it powers me so I can make you more videos

Sick! So, I guess my mega light display can't burn up all the energy in the world. Hey, what's this alert? It says 385! That must be the number of new followers this video got. Sweet! Wait, no. It's my power bill. For five minutes of running these lights. Oh no! This light display was a bad idea!

If you like this episode, take a second to subscribe to Moment of Um wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you want to know more about how energy moves around the universe, check out the Brains On podcast where we have a whole episode called Where Does Our Energy Come From? Want to see our shows come to life? Head to YouTube where we've got awesome animated Brains On episodes. Search Brains On Universe on your YouTube and subscribe.

And if you have a question, we'd love to help you get an answer to it. Drop us a line by going to brainson.org slash contact. See you next time and the next day and every weekday. Until then. This power bill is more than I make in a month. Bad idea.